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The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

FEW Pakistanis noticed the death anniversary of Fatima Jinnah this Monday past. Even in her lifetime, she had apparently been largely a recluse. The political world had been too much for her, her run for the head of state was a trying if not debilitating expedition that ended in defeat. For that woman, whose brother had been the ailing founder of a nation, being a sister was not enough. She was rejected; the machinations of men, their clever and cruel manipulations of government systems and her own reserved nature all colluded to play a role in her electoral loss. She shut herself up in Mohatta Palace, with a few servants and a dog for company. It was enough for this famous sister from cosmopolitan Bombay. After they came to her funeral, Pakistan’s powers that be largely forgot her and the people did so too.

Fatima Jinnah’s running for elections led to a tradition; all women who tried to capture the reins of power in the country would have to have some sort of blood relationship with a man who had already held power. A cavalcade of such women has followed since; various relations installed in various roles, women in the families of powerful men installed in political office to ensure a wide ‘family’ expanse of power.

Another episode of just this sort of saga is about to play out on Friday. There is a global playbook for the return of famous daughters coming home to avenge their dead or beleaguered fathers. In Pakistan, the last such occasion was in October 2007, when Benazir Bhutto boarded a plane in Dubai to return to her country for elections.

Bhutto too was a mother, a wife and a sister. And she too had been assailed by accusations of corruption. Tales of graft and embezzlement were tagged to her and her husband Asif Ali Zardari; a number of dubious expenditures were said to have been made in London. And just as Maryam Nawaz’s husband Capt Safdar has now been detained and sent to Adiala Jail, Zardari too had been in prison on corruption charges.

If you are not talking about the superhuman worth of a venerated father, like Maryam Nawaz is, you simply do not have a chance in politics.

The “cases are politically motivated and nothing more than blatant political victimisation and pressure tactics,” Maryam is reported to have said, regarding her own situation. “I am undeterred, unperturbed, fighting,” she also said, drawing attention to the fact that disqualifications, exile and jail terms are not new to the Sharif clan. All of it, the bravado, the denials and the dismissive ‘who cares’ air, and even the entourage of obsequious followers, seems familiar, like we have seen it somewhere, sometime not too long ago. Everything changes, it seems, and everything stays the same.

In the court’s judgement in the Avenfield reference case, Nawaz Sharif has been found guilty of owning assets beyond his known sources of income. Maryam, the dutiful daughter, has been found instrumental in abetting her father’s corrupt procurements. She faces a sentence of seven years. The whole family, the ever-glowing, well-turned-out Maryam included, is in London. A crowd is supposedly gathered outside the Avenfield Apartments on London’s Park Lane. They have in recent days taken to shouting “thief” at those inside. When Nawaz Sharif tried to leave, a bystander accosted him; when his son tried to defend him, the man, who was Pakistani, threw a shopping cart at him.

Nothing is over till it’s over in Pakistan. Despite the fact that information and law minister Ali Zafar has said that the two will be arrested on arrival, some have pointed out that it is entirely possible that the dramatic return scheduled for Friday either does not happen or is a doozy rather than a spectacle.

For her part, Maryam Nawaz has tweeted the flight details and told reporters that her father, Nawaz Sharif, “has set a new benchmark by offering his arrest”. No matter how repetitive the actions of Pakistani politicians, of daughters defending fathers, everyone imagines themselves as pioneers. So it is with Maryam.

There are also those who believe that Maryam Nawaz and her father may never be arrested at all and may be granted protective bail instead, enabling both to remain out of prison and even to campaign for the party in the frenzied run-up to elections on July 25. If such a prediction were to come to pass, the daughter who has become the right-hand woman to her father will likely be able to defy the situation that she currently confronts. Time could intervene, endless appeals filed, all the while the Sharifs busy doing what they do.

There are talented, brilliant and resilient women in Pakistan who do not happen to be related to powerful men, whose power is not a second act poised on the patronage of a husband or father. These women, the makers of their own destinies, head companies and banks, run schools and hospitals.

In the midst of yet another episode in the continuing saga of a daughter of privilege defending a father, it becomes crucial to mention these women who have empowered themselves in nearly every field but Pakistani politics. That last realm is one that a self-made woman finds difficult to enter; lineage and privilege matter more here than character or commitment. If you are not, like Maryam Nawaz is, talking about the superhuman worth of a venerated father, you simply do not have a chance.

One wonders how many elections, how many dramatic arrests (or non-arrests), how many rallies and verdicts will have to come to pass before Pakistani politics is not the realm of someone’s daughter, someone’s wife or someone’s sister. This election, creeping up on us, will not be the one to blaze that trail and make that crucial difference.

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.

On DawnNews

Comments (10) Closed

Dadeeji

Jul 11, 2018 10:21am

Prof Rafia Zakaria has eloquently written about the single most important barrier aspiring Pakistani women face in politics. Yet they should continue to struggle to break down the barrier they encounter. One day, yes one day that would not be too far, they WILL succeed. Of this we can all be sure, quite sure.

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Amir Dewani- U.S.A.

Jul 11, 2018 03:37pm

Just let me remind! In Pakistan, India, Sri-Lanka and Bangladeshi women have been at the top positions in their respective countries. While my own country viz U.S.A , the biggest democracy of the modern world,has yet to have a woman as President. My point is that in the modern democratic world it is not the sex, color, or kind that matters most. The factors that count most are liberty, freedom of speech, and good governance. Whosoever stands tall to blaze the trail the way home gets the 'going' through the electoral process. The only difference that we make is

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cynical sympathiser

Jul 11, 2018 05:58pm

Finally, some wonderful piece of writing that does not victimize Pakistani women.

I have conducted a little piece of my own research and have come to the same conclusion that women in Pakistani politics only come from privilege. Sure we have had a women prime minister, speaker of assembly and so forth, however where would they be had it not been for their father, husband, brother etc.

No wonder our society remains patriarchal when our most precious resource, our women are kept out of having a real say in the way we are governed.

I would even extend the same argument to the bureaucracy as the same menace plagues our most competitive exams the CSS. Only women from privilege or having close family already working for the state actually get commissioned.

As a start the quota system should be abolished and meritocracy be put in place for any hope of betterment.

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tuk

Jul 11, 2018 08:55pm

It is just not limited to women, many men in politics are also there because of their family connections!

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k k tiwari

Jul 11, 2018 09:11pm

Maryam is a brave lady i wish her well

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Dr Jasmer Singh

Jul 11, 2018 10:03pm

That highly educated women belonging to the upper classes are not yet being voted to power in Pakistan is perhaps regretable but quite understandable. It is no doubt the traditionally dressed older women who are more likely to first succeed.

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Salman

Jul 12, 2018 12:28am

Let’s not forget the fake trust deed she submitted in court

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MONIER

Jul 12, 2018 01:57am

This time it is the law of land that came into action and convicted these people. It will be difficult and impossible to change the law and the evidence that has clearly found corruption as the source of riches of the Sharif family. Panama papers were no a joke but a fact to reckon with that has beyond doubt proved the charges against Sharif and Maryam, Safdar.

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Hani_Layyah

Jul 14, 2018 02:17am

No more sympathy for nations' looters especially who have been declared guilty. . . Wrong is wrong and the convicted must be brought to the avenue of law whosoever he or she is. . .